Package vender



M. M. MARCUSE PACKAGE VENDER June 13, 1933.

Filed July 5. 1951 lNvENToR M0655 M M14/MUSE.

BYM.

Patented June 13, 1933 UNITE SE''GTS PATENT OFFICE MOSES M. MARCUSE, OFNEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO WEST DISINFECTING COMPANY, A CORPORATION OFNEW YORK PACKAGE VENDER Ap'pncation inea Jury a, 1931. serial No.548,543.

l/Vhile this invention relates in general toV vending machines itrelates more particularly to means for preventing the theft of packagestherefrom. The invention further more specifically relates totheembodiment of this idea in a particular kind or type of vendingmachine. An object of the invention is to carry out this idea in asimple, effective and inexpensive construction. Other objects andadvantages of the invention will hereinafter appear.

The invention is embodied in that type of vending machine in which anejector pushes a package out of a casing through an eXit L openingprovided in the casing for that purpose. According to the invention anormally closed door is provided for this exit opening, togetherwithmeans to prevent this door from being opened except in the normaloperation of the machine. More particularly, the exit opening isprovided in the bottom wall of an Venclosing casing immediately adjacentto one of its upright walls and the door is in the form of a hinged flapor trap door arranged to open downwardly and to be automatically closedand lkep-t closed by means of a spring. This door may be pushed open bythe lower end of a package which is propelled by an ejector, this doorbeing immediately surrounded by the walls of a downwardly projectingchute which provides a guard for the door at the outside of the bottomof the casing and prevents such access to the door as would permit it tobe pulled open from the outside. The invention further includes variousfeatures of construction and combinations of parts, as will appear fromthe following description. One embodiment of the invention is shown .4 0in the accompanying drawing and ,this will now be particularlydescribed, after which the invention will be `pointed outin claims,reference now being had to the drawing, in which:

Fig. j1 is a complete vertical longitudinal section'on the line 1-1 ofFig. 2, of a package vender in which the invention is embodied;

Fig. 2 is a frontelevation with the extreme upper portion of the casingbroken away to save space; and

Fig. 3 is a transverse section on 3-3'of Figs. l and 2.

ln carrying out the invention according to the embodiment thereof shownin the drawing, the vending machine has an upright transverselyrectangular casing which may be conveniently made up from suitable sheetmetal, such as steel, byvusual stamping and welding or vother suitableoperations. This casing comprises two principal or main parts, one ofwhich is a casing boX or container part andthe other of which is a coverpart. The casing boXor container comprises a rear wall l, a front wall2, which may have side walls 3 and 4 formed in the same piece therewith,and a bottom wall 5. The Vcover part of the casing lcomprises in generala front wall 6, which has outer side walls 7 and 8, together with a topwall 9, all of which may be formed in the same piece. The rear edge of,thistop wall 9 is hinged at l0 to the top edge of the rear wall l ofthecontainer part, this rear wall 1 being adapted to be detachably securedto any convenient upright support, such as a wall of a building. f o Thebottom 5 of the casing boX inclines downwardly and forwardly at a rathersteep angle, while the top 9,0f the cover has a similar slope parallelwith the bottom 5, which provides for wide upward opening movement ofthe cover part. The top edges of the side walls?) and 4L of the casingbox in- Cline sharply downward and forward to the upper edge of thefront wall 2, which accordingly is at a considerable distance below thetop wall 9 of the cover part, for reasons which will presently appear.The front wall 6V of the cover part is spaced forwardly or outwardlyfrom the front wall V2 of the 90 the line casing box, thereby toaccommodate operating mechanism which is mounted upon the inner side ofthis outer front wall 6. The lower edge of the inner front wall 2 has aforwardly projecting flange 11, shown as forming a stop for the outerfront wall 6. The flange 11 is shown as provided with a keeper 12 to beengaged by the bolt 13 of a lock 14 which is mounted upon the outerfront wall 6.

The bottom wall 5 of the casing box is in- 'complete at the front, atits forward edge terminating forwardly in rearward spaced relation fromthe front wall 2, so as to provide an oblong rectangular bottom opening,as shown in Figs. 1 and 3. A door flap or trap door 15 is provided forclosingthis opening and along its rear edge is hinged to the forwardedge of the bottom wall 5 by means of a hinge pin 16. This door 15,which is of transversely elongated rectangular shape, extends at aninclination forward and downward in alignment with the bottom wall 5 andat its free forward edge has a horizontal marginal portion which mayabut upwardly against the adjacent portion of the front flange 11 on thefront wall 2 of the casing box (Fig. 1). This door 15 may swing opendownwardly and rearwardly and is normally urged towards and maintainedat its closed position shown in full lines in the drawing, by means of awire torsion spring 17 having its coils surrounding the hinge pin 16 andhaving arms engaging respectively with the lower side of the bottom wall5 and the lower side of the door 15 (Figs. 1 and A guard is provided forthis exit door 15 to prevent it from being pulled open from the outside,this guard being in the form of a downwardly extending chute whichsurrounds the exit opening and its door 15. The rear wall of this chuteis formed by a vertical plate 18 having a rearwardly and uprear of thehinge 16 of the door 15.

' wardly inclined flange by means of which it is secured to the lowerside of the bottom wall 5 of the casing box, from which this plate 18projects downwardly just at rlltie ie front wall of this guard chute isformed by means of a downward extension on the front wall 6 of the covercomprising an inturned slightly downwardly and rearwardly inclinedportion 19 and a vertical terminal portion 20, the rear or inner face ofwhich is in vertical alignment with the inner face of the front casingbox wall 2 (Fig. 1). The lateral or end walls of this guard chute areformed respectively by downward extensions 21 and 22 from the side walls7 and 8 of the cover part. All of the vertical walls, 18, 20, 21 and 22,of this chute are downwardly coterminus, as appears in Fig. 1, the rearand front walls 18 and 20, however, being provided at the middle oftheir lower edges with finger notches 23 and 24. For contributing to aneat appearance, the side walls 7 and 8 of the cover part are extendeddownwardly as free portions throughout their full width rearwardly fromthe downwardly extending portions 21 and 22 which form the end walls ofthe chute, as appears in Fig. 1 for the left hand side wall 7.

Packages 25 are contained on end in the casing box or container part soas to move therein forwardly and downwardly along the inclined bottom 5,and are forced forwardly and pressed into frictional engagement with oneanother and with the inner side of the front wall 2 by means of a leafspring 26 secured at its upper end to the rear wall 1 and having areversely curved lower end portion pressing against the rear fFace ofthe adjacent package 25, as shown in It will be noted that the front orforemost package 25 is in line with the exit opening and immediatelyabove the downwardly opening door 15. While of course this package couldbe supported by the spring 17 of the door 15, as a matter of fact it isreally supported by its frictional engagement with the front wall 2 andJthe next adjacent package 25, or should this be the only packageremaining, then by frictional engagementat its back with the curvedlower end of the spring 26. The particular packages 25 shown in thedrawing are relatively light in weight, comprising sanitary napkinsenclosed in paper envelopes. lVithout the closed door 15, and even withthe surrounding downwardly projecting chute as above described, it mightbe possible to withdraw the front package 25 from the bottom, and thento keep on withdrawing other packages successively in the same manner.However, with this closed door 15, together with the guard chute, noaccess can be had to the lower end of this package, while the guardchute prevents the possibility of the door 15 being pulled open from theoutside of the casing.

In the normal operation of the machine the foremost package 25 ispushedv downward from the inside of the casing substantially to theposition thereof indicated in broken lines for its lower end portion inFig. 1. As it moves downward the lower end of this package pushes openthe door 15, which accordingly swings downward and rearwardlysubstantially to the position of this door also indicated in brokenlines in Fig. 1. It is obvious that this downwardly projecting package25 may then be easily pulled out of the casing merely by grasping itslower end. When this has been done, the door 15 for the exit openingwill immediately be automatically closed by its spring 17. In thisclosed posit-ion of the door 15 the edges of its ends laterally overlapupon the lower ion CRL

edges of the inner side walls 3, and 4 and approach closely to theinnerfaces of the outer side walls 7 and 8 of the cover part, while the freefront margin or edge portion of this door is held against the lower sideof the iiange 11 of the front wall 2, with its free front edge above theinturned portion 19 of the chute wall and forwardly from the verticalportion 20 of t-his chute wall. Thus it will be seen that this door k15cannot be opened with the fingers and also it is practically impossibleto open itby using any ordinary kind of tool.

A package pusher or ejector is provided for thus pushing the foremostpackage downward to the above described projecting position. Thisejector comprises a. vertically movable plate 27 provided at its upperend with an inturned hook28 which is directly above the upper end of theforemost package 25 and which, when moved downward from the full lineposition shown in Fig. 1 to the broken line position there shown, willpush this package v.down until it can be grasped and pulled out as abovedescribed. The ejector plate 27 may be operated from the outside of thefront of the outer wall 6 by means of a vertically slidable handle knob29. This normal operation, however, is coin controlled and for thatpurpose a coin 30 may be inserted into the upper open end of a coinchute 31. The coin controlled mechanism, some parts of which appearincidentally in the drawing, may be of any .suitable construction soVfar as this present invention is concerned. It will be noted that theinwardly rounded corner formed between the inturned portion 19 and thevertical portion 2O of the front wall of the guard chute providesclearance for the front edge of the door 15 in its opening and closingmovements. It will also be noted that this downwardly projecting chutearound the exit opening and its door 15 forms a package guide as well asalso forming an effective guard for the door 15, as hereinbeforedescribed.

It is obvious that various modifications may be made in the constructionshown in the drawing and above particularly described', within theprinciple and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim: Y

l. In a package vender, the combination of an enclosing casingcomprising upright back and front and side walls, a top wall and aforwardly inclined bottom wall terminating forwardly in spaced relationto the front wall thereby to provide an exit opening for a package, thelower edge of said front wall having thereon a forwardly extendingiiange, a door flap hinged along its rear edge to the forward edge ofthe casing bottom and extending forwardly and downwardly at aninclination in alignment therewith and at its forward edge having ahorizontal margin to lie flat against the bottom of 'said flange on thefront wall, a spring automatically urging said door `flap upwardly toits closedy position and permitting said door flap to be pushed opendownwardly by a package passing ldownwardly through said opening, and adownwardly projecting chute on the casing surrounding said opening anddoor flap with the lower portion of the front wall of said chute inalignment with the front wall of the casing' and with the upper portionof this front wall of the chute extending forwardly and upwardly therebyto give clearance to the front edge of the door Hap, said chute forminga guard for the door flap to prevent the door iiap from being pulledvopen from the outside ofthe casing.

2. In a package vender,the combination of an enclosing casing comprisingupright back and front and side walls, a top wall and a forwardlyinclined bottomwall terminating forwardly in spaced relation tothe frontwall thereby to provide an exit opening for a package, the lower edge ofsaid frontwwall having thereon avforwardly extending flange, a door flaphinged along its rear edge to the forward edgeL of the casing bottom andextending forwardly and downwardly at an inclination in alignmenttherewith and at its forward edge having a horizontal margin to lie flatagainst the bottom of said flange on the front wall, a springautomatically urg- .ing said door flap upwardly to its closed p0- sitionand permitting said door flap to be pushed openy downwardly by a packagepassing downwardly through said opening, a downwardly projectingchute onthe vcasing surrounding said opening and door flap with. thelowerportion of the front ywall of said chute inalignment with the front wallof the'casing and with the upper portion of this front wall of the chuteextending foriwardly and upwardly thereby to give clearance to thefront'edge of the door flap, said chute forming a guard for the doorflap toA prevent the door flap from being pulled open from the outsideof the casing, a package ejector within the casing at its front, anoperating handle at the outside of the front of the casing, andoperating connections between the handle and the package ejector forcausing the latter to push a package downwardly through said openinguntil said package projects sufficiently below said chute to be graspedand pulled out of the casing. v

In` witness whereof, I hereuntov subscribe my signature. v

. MOSES MARCUSE.

